Hands-on: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is thinner, lighter, but is it better?

We've had to chance to see if the millimetre differences were of any import to the foldable phone. #galaxyai #samsungunpacked #galaxyzfold6

By Liu Hongzuo - 13 Jul 2024

Note: This feature was first published on 10 July 2024.

Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Fold6 at its Paris Unpacked keynote, introducing the next generation of book-style foldable smartphones with plenty of hidden and obvious upgrades.

In our demo session prior to the keynote, we had the opportunity to check out a few of its claims (for more top-level highlights, read our announcement article here).

We'll quickly reintroduce the foldable before we go into what's changed. Samsung's book-style Galaxy Z Fold6 comes from a long line of book-style foldable phones that first launched in 2019.

Each refresh brought on improvements or new features, but mostly kept to its dual display mantra: a squarish, main display on the inside with almost 1:1 aspect ratio that can also offer multitasking, with a outer display that resembles a standard bar-type smartphone.

The Galaxy Z Fold6 stretched its design by making it easier to handle without adding more bulk. While it's only 1mm wider than before when folded, the closed state now feels much more like a standard phone.

Unfold it, and the 7.6-inch main display gives you the same mini-tablet form factor, which is now closer to a 1:1 aspect ratio than before (2,1560 x 1,856 pixels resolution). Samsung said that they managed to add 2.7mm to the horizontal length of the panel, which helps show more content, especially if you have multiple windows open, as shown above.

A classic use case of foldables is the ability to employ either panel as a viewfinder and browse content easily, no matter which AMOLED panel you're on. As seen here, the Galaxy Z Fold6 works fine if you intend to use its 6.3-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display (2,376 x 968 pixels resolution) as a digital viewfinder.

The Galaxy Z Fold6's 1.6x larger vapour chamber is really obvious from the teardown example (right). Photo: HWZ.

The upgrades aren't just superficial, either. Besides packing in the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset, Samsung also showed us what a 1.6x larger vapour chamber looked like (right) when compared to its predecessor (left). The bronze-coloured strip is the vapour chamber that helps dissipate heat that builds up during intense use, and Samsung has extended it so much that it stretches deep into the centre of the device. If the laws of physics do not fail us, this new vapour chamber design would certainly help in keeping the phone run at its best for longer periods.

Despite all these changes, Samsung still manages to get some cursory resistance on the device. It's rated IP48 against dust and water, which is an improvement from the predecessor's IPX8 rating. It's just as resistant against water like before, but it now has an added dust resistance when it previously did not have any.

The improved Galaxy Z Fold6 hinge (right) adds robustness to cover more of the gaps. Photo: HWZ.

Besides upgrading its form, components, and tolerance against the elements, Samsung also said it improved the hinge by giving it a new dual rail structure with a strengthened folding edge.

A closer look at the teardowns available during the demo showed that the Galaxy Z Fold6 used more generous amounts of hinge materials to close any gaps and keep a minimal amount of exposure hinge parts.

Opening the device felt smooth in my hand, but there's very little give, and it'd be best to unfold it with both hands like before.

Unfortunately, Samsung did not eliminate the crease despite the enhanced layers used for the main screen. It's still evident under the right angles. More importantly, our previous reviews said that the S Pen (optional) can get caught in the "longkang" (drain) if you're doing precise work with the stylus on the main screen, so this part of the user experience did not get the improvements it desperately needs. It's not an issue if you're not fond of the S Pen, but we think a stylus adds much more to this book-style's foldable usability.

Another thing we noticed was that the change towards a slimmer, lighter Galaxy Z Fold6 reintroduced some weird kinks that the predecessor once eliminated. If you look closely, the Galaxy Z Fold6 no longer folds into two perfectly parallel halves. It's back to sloping folds, which might annoy users who want a perfect foldable. However, we think it's a worthy trade-off if it means shaving precious weight and thickness since those factors directly affect your everyday carry and handling.

To cap off our trial, we've also checked out its triple rear camera combo, which comes with a 50MP main, 12MP ultra-wide, and a 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom. They seem to work well and are capable of taking sharp, detailed photos just like before.

If you read the original announcement, you would also have heard of the many AI additions, especially the improvements like Live Translate working on third-party call apps and Samsung Keyboard getting a Composer mode that copies your typing style. They've also swapped out Google Assistant with its AI-powered alternative, Google Gemini, that can parse through your photos, files, and emails to propose solutions that are catered only to you.

During the demo session, we tried the AI-powered Sketch to Image. Check out our experience in this video we've captured:-

With the help of S Pen, Sketch to Image was able to use Galaxy AI to replace a gnarly doodle from our Notes app into four different art styles, each offering alternative designs to choose from. While it's not going to win us any reputable awards (it's AI art, after all), Sketch to Image worked swiftly at giving us the necessary visuals to help improve our note-taking quality. It doesn't take a lot of time, too, since it only needs about ~20 seconds to generate a bunch of choices for you.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fol6 with its casing options. Photo: HWZ.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 starts at S$2,548 (12+256GB), S$2,728 (12+512GB) and S$3,088 (12+1TB). Pre-order the phone here

To get more details on its pricing, promotions, and availability, don’t forget to check out our pricing article here.

Hands-on: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is thinner, lighter, but is it better?

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